The open method of coordination and policy mainstreaming: the European employment strategy and regional conversion programmes in the UK

This article is a critical exploration of the issues raised by the attempt to integrate aims and concerns derived from one European Union (EU) policy domain into another. It does this via an examination of the ways in which the European Employment Strategy (EES) has been taken into account in the design and initial implementation of Structural Fund programmes in the 2000–2006 round. In particular, it examines the nature of this ‘mainstreaming’ relationship in terms of the structures and mechanisms associated with current Objective 1 programmes operating in the UK. It maps out the vertical and horizontal linkages between European, national and regional levels, and assesses the extent to which strategic frameworks, programme guidance and programme content have successfully integrated EES considerations. The article concludes by identifying some implications for theories of European governance.     

Transition From Wild to Domesticated Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum) Revealed in Ceramic Temper at Three Middle Holocene Sites in Northern Mali

Imprints of domesticated pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) spikelets, observed as temper in ceramics dating to the third millennium BC, provide the earliest evidence for the cultivation and domestication process of this crop in northern Mali. Additional sherds from the same region dating to the fifth and fourth millennium BC were examined and found to have pearl millet chaff with wild morphologies. In addition to studying sherds by stereomicroscopy and subjecting surface casts to scanning electron microscopy (SEM), we also deployed X-ray microcomputed tomography (microCT) on eleven sherds. This significantly augmented the total dataset of archaeological pearl millet chaff remains from which to document the use of the wild pearl millet as ceramic temper and the evolution of its morphology over time. Grain sizes were also estimated from spikelets preserved in the ceramics. Altogether, we are now able to chart the evolution of domesticated pearl millet in western Africa using three characteristics: the evolution of nonshattering stalked involucres; the appearance of multiple spikelet involucres, usually paired spikelets; and the increase in grain size. By the fourth millennium BC, average grain breadth had increased by 28%, although spikelet features otherwise resemble the wild type. In the third millennium BC, the average width of seeds is 38% greater than that of wild seeds, while other qualitative features of domestication are indicated by the presence of paired spikelets and the appearance of nondehiscent, stalked involucres. Nonshattering spikelets had probably become fixed by around 2000 BC, while increases in average grain size continued into the second millennium BC. These data now provide a robust sequence for the morphological evolution of domesticated pearl millet, the first indigenous crop domesticated in western Africa.

     

Command Centre Bjorn: the conflict heritage of a Swedish Cold War military installation

This text presents the results of a contemporary archaeological investigation of an important Swedish Cold War installation, Command Centre Bjorn. This centre was connected to the Air Force Attack Squadron and together with the coastal artillery and the navy it constituted a crucial part of the Swedish defence efforts during the Cold War period. The text also discusses questions concerning heritage processes, and it stresses that a contemporary archaeology approach can contribute with new insights into the Cold War and its heritage in Sweden, as well as canalize and offer guidance to the huge public interest in the material remains from this period in Sweden.     

Challenging Hegemonies through Connecting Places,People and Ideas: Jan Monk's contribution to international gender geography (with particular reference to Spain)

The main goal of the paper is to study Jan Monk's contribution to the development of international gender geography, in particular in Spain. Our aim is also to explain the experiences and numerous connections among places, people and ideas that she has been weaving to foster international scholarship and, in this way, how she has challenged hegemonic approaches in feminist geography. Jan Monk comes originally from the Southern hemisphere and therefore she is well aware of the extent to which ‘Northern’ (or Anglo-American) ways of seeing the world define concepts, theories and ideas in geography (and also in feminist geography). Being an ‘insider’ and an ‘outsider’ as well as her sensibility to the important of place has permeated Jan's contribution to international gender geography.     

The prevalence of,and the relationship between some spinal diseases in a human skeletal population from London

The prevalence of osteoarthritis, osteophytosis, intervertebral disc disease and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) was determined in a group of skeletons excavated from the crypt of Christ Church, Spitalfields. Age-specific prevalence rates were calculated from the group of skeletons for which age at death was known from intact coffin plates. Osteoarthritis of the facet joints occurred most frequently in the cervical and upper thoracic regions and was also common in the lower lumbar spine. The disease was more frequently bilateral in the lumbar spine than in upper regions. Osteophytes were common in the thoracic and lumbar spines, whereas intervertebral disc disease was confined almost completely to the cervical region. Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis seemed to be underrepresented in this group, but was more common in males than in females. Age correlated significantly with all the conditions except DISH. Multiple regression analysis was carried out using each of the conditions as the dependent variable in turn. Age accounted for more of the variance than any of the other conditions added as independent variables.     

The development and operation of Roman hypocausted baths

Hypocausted baths represent physical systems which are susceptible to theoretical and practical examination. A consideration of the development of the hypocaust gives an idea of the state of the art at the time of the Roman occupation of Britain. It also explains why the importance of baths in the history of architecture, usually taken as being almost axiomatic, is determined by comfort physics. A number of problems in the way of a simple theoretical calculation of the fuel consumption is examined, and a calculation of the order of the requirements of a small rural establishment is attempted. The social and ecological implications are briefly touched upon.